1 February 2017
I was particularly interested in the recent media discussions around the call from Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon George Osborne, to look towards a longer school day in Britain.
As you will be aware, King’s School introduced a longer school day twelve years ago and I have always been a bit perplexed as to why other independent schools have not followed our lead on this.
Naturally it has been of some interest to the media just how a longer school day has worked out in practice and what tangible benefits it has brought. This has been a great opportunity for us to reflect on the original reasons for wanting to lengthen our day and just what that has meant to the school as a whole.
These were the key points that I was able to highlight to media on the effects of a longer day:
· In order to give our students the breadth of curriculum and experiences we want to offer at King’s School, yet without compromising the key core subject areas of maths, reading and writing, we need an extended day if we are to fit everything in without sacrificing quality.
· The extended hours of our school day suit today's family lifestyle. The boys start the day early, coinciding with parent work hours, and there is no need for after school activities. We should remind ourselves that the traditional school hours of 9am – 3pm were only set to suit a largely rural population in New Zealand when children were required to work on farms outside of these hours.
· Rather than trying to achieve everything within the confines of a 9am – 3pm day, the longer day surprisingly softens the day. Boys are less stressed with a longer day and enjoy longer breaks.
· The boys complete everything within the school day, therefore minimal homework is required during important home time. Swimming lessons and sports practices are all taken care of during school hours.
· The longer day has allowed us to teach music, a second language, science and sport in a meaningful way. The boys are fully immersed in their specialist subjects and benefit from having several classes a week in these subjects. For example, at King’s boys are able to learn a second language properly, with three lessons a week, rather than just touch on a very basic undertanding.
· Research has proven that both learning a musical instrument and a second language opens pathways in the brain. We are able to offer all our students full immersion in these subjects and there is tangible evidence of the impact this has on other learning too.
· By the time our boys leave for secondary school they will have completed an extra whole year of tuition.
· Our academic results have significantly improved in the 12 years we have been operating a longer day. The recent TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) results, where we topped the country in both Maths and Science are, I believe, a direct consequence of having the extra teaching time available for our students.
Tony Sissons
Headmaster
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